Arnold Gordon L'67

Lecturer in Law

Education

LLB - Penn Law - '67

BA - Pennsylvania State University - '64

Arnold Gordon is a career prosecutor with a combined 40 years served in the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office and the US Attorney’s Office. Most recently, Mr. Gordon served as First Assistant District Attorney of Philadelphia from 1991 until 2010. In that capacity, as the senior non-elected official in the D.A.’s Office, he supervised all of its more than three hundred prosecutors and their daily operations.Mr. Gordon’s experience prior to his tenure as First Assistant DA, included two years in the Army Military Police (rose to rank of Captain), 16 years in the Philadelphia D.A.’s Office in various trial units, as Chief of the Municipal Court Unit, the Felony Waiver Unit, and the Homicide Unit, and as Deputy of the Trial Division. Through the course of his career, Mr. Gordon has prosecuted many homicides and other violent felonies, conducted and supervised grand jury investigations, and argued before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

From 1986 until 1991 Mr. Gordon served as a Special Attorney in the Organized Crime and Racketeering Section of the U.S. Department of Justice and as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. He was a co-prosecutor in the RICO prosecution of Nicodemo Scarfo and sixteen other members of the Philadelphia Mafia. This single case was amongst the largest and most successful organized crime prosecutions in U.S. history. For his contribution to this case and other contributions to law enforcement, he was awarded the John Marshall Award for outstanding legal achievement by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Mr. Gordon currently serves as a member of the Archdiocese Review Board of Philadelphia where he considers allegations regarding the abuse of minors by priests, and recommends appropriate dispositions to the Archbishop. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Rails and Trails Council of Northeast Pennsylvania.